Adventures of a Filipina (brown skinned), 22 at the moment. Journey from crazy activities and moments with everyone around me, personal opinions and beliefs with a bit of rants and reviews. Loves to feel the rush and plan whatever comes in life. I dare to post anything I can share. From my extreme adventures, financial experiences, health conditions and personal concerns. Practical and ready to go.
Other blog: damitatgamit.blogspot.com

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016

So a few months ago, I did a dramatic post of how my boyfriend got denied for a Tourist US Visa from Philippines. The day after if denial, he decided to try and apply. Stupid me, I didn't even try to stop him. So there goes another $160.

That same day of visa refusal, he messaged his professor regarding help of some job opportunity. It's been a year since his last embarkment and he needs a job. Fast forward, he's now waiting for a line up. And the vessel he is assigned to needs a Seafarers' US Visa. Back to his 2nd application for the Tourist, he couldn't get an earlier appointment. That was in October 4th and the appointment we got was December 2nd. Crazy right. That long.

Problem: he can't apply for the Seafarers, Visa because of upcoming appointment and there can't be multiple appointments if we understand correctly. So I changed his appointment to an earlier one (believe it's like magic that there's an earlier one) so it was November 28th. He arrived hours earlier as he learned the last time that traffic is hell. We already know it's going to be denied again. What we both want is to get it over with so he can apply for the Seafarers' Visa.

He called me surprisingly minutes only after his departure for interview that he wasn't admitted because the Confirmation number in DS-160 is not correct. The day before, he already told me that's it's not the same and when I checked it, it's not yet when we try to do it again, same results. And now we are hanging around hoping that his No Show will be considered Cancelled and his company can apply him for the Seafarers' Visa.

Bottom line: Be careful filling up the website. I included photos above and where to look for putting the CORRECT Confirmation number. Both my boyfriend (for the December 2nd) and me (Changed to November 28th) made the mistake. What sucks is even if you saw the mistake before then interview, you can't change it anymore. So please learn from our experience and READ and out the correct number when applying/changing appointments.

Friday, November 25, 2016

I've read before that the most you can make you credit score higher is to not make all your credit accounts Zero every statement balance. Now I'm not sure regarding loans and car payments since I know for a fact you NEED to pay those on time and in full (the amount monthly or whatever the contract is). But regarding credit cards, I learned that it's better to have some of you current accounts to have a balance and wait for the statement then pay for it. Rather than what I've been doing before, it's ALL zero before all the statement balances comes in. It hurt my score. And now that I know the technique, please do so.

As you can see, By October/November, My scores drop down pretty big. Almost 20 points in all. Most of the reason/explanation I'm given is Lack of balances, No loan information, No Rotating Credit whatsoever. Then I tried a different approach of waiting for my statement balance then pay it FULLY instead of paying it way before and not wait for them to report to the credit bureaus. I guess it helped. If I am correct, I think I let two of my credit cards report that I have a balance and three of them completely zero. Please don't make your credit balance more than 30% or this will hurt you rather than help you. If your balances are more than 30% close to statement balance, pay it off partly. Your credit limit should NOT exceed 30% of the credit limit when it's being reported to the Bureaus. Do NOT make it a point where ALL of it are ZERO. That's what happened to me before and I saw my scores either drop or not move for MONTHS.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

This is about me being greedy of ten F'ing dollars. Yes, $10.00 ladies and gentlemen. I've wasted my time because of ten freaking dollars and I'm mad at myself. So yesterday I ordered at Amazon and all is good. I'm just waiting for it to be shipped. Since it was yesterday, the original earliest deliver is one week from yesterday. But because of freaking greediness of mine, I changed that by one day and wasted my time as well as the girl who tried to helped me today. Thanks Rochelle but clearly you were out of luck as me. Of course I do understand her reasoning of seller was not the same. But with her 'explaining' it's practically just stalling in my opinion which in the end I fixed the whole thing myself, cancelled and reordered both things (again still my fault for thinking I can get $10). I still got to give Amazon the thumbs up for having an agent answer me not even a minute of waiting.

No, I did not purchase Go Pro. It's the wrist housing for the camera itself and similar to it. It was $26.99 when I purchased it and $16.41 this morning. Yet when I tried to buy it in the cheaper price, it was SOLD OUT. So I saved nothing and wasted my time plus kind of delayed the delivery of my package. Sjcam5000x here.

Look at the YESTERDAY and TODAY. Damn that was one day delay. Time is gold. Lol.

I still love my Htc Re Camera, but if iI'm going to have adventures by myself without anyone else with me to take some photos and videos when I'm busy using both of my hands, this will come in handy. It's just on my wrist doing its purpose. And when my hands are either free, then I can record again using my Htc Re. Plus, both of them combined I have more footage for the whole thing of whatever I'm doing.

That's was 12-15 minutes of my life for nothing. My fault.Same thing is happening again right now November 24 during the day. I got the Sjcam for $133 and it's showing a cheaper rate of $127.95. This is ridiculous Amazon. But, I'll stop myself wondering if I can save that money or I'll jeopardize the delivery date again.

At night, I cancelled the whole thing completely. Maybe next time another camera :)

Thursday, November 17, 2016

I've been posting in Trip Advisor for a while now. Same thing I post on yelp. At first, I already know Yelp has more business that you can review and easier to use. Trip advisor from my first impression is more professional. But then time past and now, Trip advisor tipped me off. There are TEN reviews I did and it wasn't posted. At first I understand, this is the process of this site. You review and it's pending for a while then will be posted if you meet criterias and shit. I took my time to post all this and was ignored. Not even a reason. Then I waited and emailed. Response, we don't care. In variation :)

Starting today, I won't even bother to open my account to see how's it's doing and to add reviews. On site it says I have 99 reviews (which clearly is false) and 13 helpful votes. I got plenty of badges but that's now what this is about. I love traveling, but if this site will not treasure then, Good bye.

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Got the email maybe yesterday or the other day and seemed legit. Opened it and it is! I never heard of Shop Runner before and now I have because of the offer. If I read the site correctly, it's 30 day free trial then $2.99 a month. It's basically shipping within 2 days at the brands they are partner of. I'm not an online shopper but why not it's free. You'll never know when it comes handy. Thank You Amex, I love you more and more. - Shop Runner

They will send you an email regarding password and of course I suggest you change it as soon as you can.

Update regarding CLI, well not the credit limit but the cash advance part. It wasn't changed. Still $300 from my starting date. I went to chat with Raizel online and she told me in variations that I didn't request for an increase when I did my credit limit. I keep remembering and I know I'm not that blind if there is ever an option to check regarding the cash advance, I would've done it. But since I told myself this would be the last for now regarding requesting increases (I only thought Credit Limit Increase) let me add cash advance since I really don't need those for now. She did gave me a number to talk about it 800-227-4669 and press (0) for representative. I was a bit tempted but No, I'm good. So again, let's help each other get the most and control!

Sunday, November 13, 2016

At 0751 this morning, I got approved 3X from my starting limit. Today's also the 61st day since I applied and approved for the Blue Cash Everyday of American Express. I was planning on doing this on the 63rd day but I figure let's just get it over with. My statement came a few days ago and it was zero. I put $40,000 as income just like when I applied two months ago. In the span of less than 60 days (waited for the card to arrive), I spent $1111.54 all in all. At my first statement I got a balance of $500 plus. I had total of five payments all in Mondays. I figured and read that being consistent might help and it did I guess. I was a little scared due to that stupid Synchrony Bank hitting a hard pull on my credit recently.

Starting Limit $6,000.

Increase of $12,000.

Total limit $18,000.

Sign up Bonus was $150. I got it back exactly a month after the approval. And it says Ticketmaster on the site since that's the reason I reached the $500 minimum in order to get that bonus. Not bad! True to their word - depending on what site / browser you applied. So read it well and canvas. In two months, I paid $961.54 because of this sign up bonus of $150.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

We partied October 29, Saturday. Double purpose of Halloween costume and One of our coworker is leaving the work place. A little goodbye celebration for her. Ever since I met her last year, she was looking for something else and here she starts her new journey. Good Luck!

Heroes at Riverside, Pizza was okay. I did not finish it because of my huge beer and fun atmosphere especially on Halloween. Hopefully the bathroom was a bit bigger since on weekends it's lot of people. Parking is hard so plan for that.

The Menagerie - easy to go to, really packed since there's no entrance fee. Like to the music. Only one bathroom so not good when you're buzzed since you're going to be waiting for so long.

I was the Flash. Did not wear my mask since I know my head will hurt form it/ got a big head.

I got my costume in Party City, retail $50 before taxes. They didn't have any Small or Extra small in Men size so I got 12-14 year old Boys. I know that they don't have it for women and even if they do, it'll be sexy-ish and I don't want that.

I took three shots of a tequila that kind of tatstes like Listerine, and one big Corona plus sips of drinks from my friends. At 11pm, I stopped drinking and threw up many times :)

Friday, November 4, 2016

The other day, November 2nd, I requested a Limit Increase on my Sunglass Hut Credit Card. It's been a year and I just figured why not. I called the number and finished the machine saying it's been granted my request. An increase of $400. Since it was thru telephone, I thought it will be a soft pull plus there was NO WARNING whatsoever before I complete the machine. Yesterday, I got an email on my Protect My Id account by Experian saying there's been a credit inquiry. When I checked it's the Synchrony Bank. I was mad.

So pretty much the whole time I spoke to 4 people was about almost an hour. First is Debbie in Protect my Id for a minute then was transferred to Experian with Steven for the longest time and getting rude at me since I was trying to explain my previous experience of dispute. He makes me feel like I don't understand him and keep saying, "Again ma'am, blah blah blah." Which I'm trying to explain myself and he's like I don't know the previous situation but he's our policy.

Bad.

He then told me to ask the Synchrony Bank to send a removal letter for my dispute. I told him many times that when I disputed few months ago, I did not have to do anything and he keeps saying it probably because it's over two years or something about the law. Anyhow, That's a frustrating conversation all in all.

I called the number he gave me and talked to Steve who told me he can't help me since it's the Sunglass Hut that can remove/explain more. After a minute I was transferred to Sunglass Hut and got Joe. He put me on hold multiple times and tried to tell me I should Call Experian, which I explained I just did and said that they need a removal letter from Sunglass Hut. I even said I don't want that increase anymore if there's going to be a pull on my credit. $400 is not worth it.

Oh and also, Sunglass Hut robot telephone machine is ANNOYING.

Then he asked many times someone while I'm on hold on what to do next and my argument is this:
The machine/telephone did not say any warning or disclosure prior to requesting the increase.
When I told Joe that, he asked again someone and gave me a good news that he sent the removal letter. Right now, it's in Joe's hands if he really sent out that letter to Experian. He said it's going to take 60 days and it is based on approval. my question is who's approval, they are the one who put the inquiry and requesting it to be removed. I just hope it will be deleted or I might close the account itself because of this.
If I heard any type of warning on the telephone, I would let it go since there's a disclosure. but there's NOTHING. So I have the right to fight for this. Don't let this "banks/credit bureau" fool you and ruin your credit. Let's stand together!

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Yesterday, I got an increase in Sunglass Hut from $600 to $1000, $400 increase. And here I am looking at my Credit report today saying I have an inquiry from Synchrony Bank. Not worth it. Calling them right now about it. No warnings or anything, it's done through the robot machine. Not happy.

Victoria Secret gave me a 7-10 day message which sucks. This is my second request and probably second denial. I've been with them for more than a year and six months. Starting limit is $650 and stuck. I'm already an Angel Forever since this July this year. Pretty much using it frequently. Disappointed.

Got the denial 11/12/16 stating they can't increase due to income. When I requested I put $40,000. If that's not enough to go higher from $650 then Good Luck! 2nd denial from Victoria Secret.

I love reading people's experiences regarding credit account. Approvals, denials and credit limit increases. Here are opinions from people I found which I think describes 3 types of people that handles their credit:

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Out of nowhere I tried and surprisingly approved! From $600 to $1000 (Increase of $400). Approved on March 12, 2016, so more than 7 months. I don't use it often, to be exact only THREE times including my last purchase since approval. Most expensive was less than $130. - Kohl's.

I don't remember seeing the Request Credit Line Increase before and I think it appeared because I used it recently. I bought my dad a gift for Christmas. I know too early right.

Way better than Victoria Secret since I got that card more than a year and never got an auto and was declined once. I even reached Angel Forever Status (most exclusive). And I purchase more often over there.

Here's what it looks like when you're going to request a CLI (looks like SP since no statement regarding credit bureau):

Good Luck! I will start gardening after my Amex request for a whole year and really sacrifice (not even going to request SP Cli). Thanks Kohl's!